Geminiani: Concerto grosso Op. 3 No. 2 in G minor

During the Berlin Festival of 1978 Giulini conducted two concerts of Italian music with the Philharmonic Orchestra on 13 and 14 September: the Sonata pian’ e forte by Giovanni Gabrieli, the Concerto grosso in G minor, Op.3 No.2 by Francesco Geminiani and Rossini's Stabat mater for soloists, chorus and orchestra. As Klaus Geitel put it in Die Welt on 15 September, "Carlo Maria Giulini never ceases to surprise his public. He does not restrict himself to the run of the mill, however fine. Of all major conductors who mount the Philharmonic Orchestra's rostrum he follows the least beaten path. The main item of the evening was the Stabat mater, the core of the mid-life crisis that beset the 40-year-old Rossini and almost silenced him until the end of his life, nearly three decades later… Giulini's interpretation was reverent and dignified without, however, making the charm of the work descend to the religious profundities that are only served up in the North." From the booklet note by Helge Grünewald